Nation of Dogs
by EclipsePheniox
Summary: After getting Quiet back to Mother base the unthinkable happened and now Daimond dogs must find out what happned in a new world. But some things may not be as truthful has they have been told. AU OC/ Quiet.
1. Chapter 1

Punished Venom Snake, or as he was once know as Kosaryov 'Black Sun' Ilyich looked out at the sea from one of the top helipad of mother base. His men knew who he was, but never truly cared. They followed a legend and instead found a place where they belonged, Mother base was no longer just a base to them. But home, a family, a place to belong where a world would never accept the soldiers that they where. Race, nationality, political ideals, religion, none of it meant anything here.

This was a paradise in a sense, but that's not what Kosaryov thought of, Cypher was still at large and a major threat to everyone not just Mother base or Diamond Dogs. Looking out he then turned his eyes to two marks on his bionic arm, one for the parasite outbreak and the other for the mutation from outbreak. The first one was simply VCP with the number of dead next to it, 15 had died from the original outbreak. The next one was 'Shining lights' in reference to the mutated outbreak on the quarantine platform. And along side it was the number he killed, 20, he killed 20 of his own men and that memory hunted him since the incident.

But since then they had grown, they has grown into a force to be reckoned with. But more then that they added new platforms and new divisions. So much so that Mother base and their forward operating bases were practically oil rig cities like Neft Daşları. The first was the refugee platform that was around the size of 8x8 platforms stuck together. It used the old resource containers as makeshift houses and shops. More platforms for the refugee platform in case of more will come. But for now there was at least 5000 refugees on it.

Because they had been saved many of the adults joined Diamond dogs as payment for their families food, water and house. Because none of them were soldiers many were assigned none combat roles. However there were a few who policed the platform due to a number of differences. These were minor but still Snake believed that it's better to keep a few personnel on the platform in case. There was a platform next to the main platform for the kids to go to. It was a school platform so that they would receive a good education. Many in the medical team and support unit were mostly the ones who taught while a few from the other groups pitched in as well.

Kids deserved a chance at life, and Diamond dogs will help them to learn what they needed to. Even if Miller disagreed. But the platform had other things as well. There was a farm platform near the animal conservation platform with soil from the most fertile of places allowing for the

The next was the Diamond dogs naval platforms, nicknamed Sea dogs. Snake Believed that if they expanded their operations into the other two theatres of war, so they built several platforms for their new navy which was mostly hired to do policing work against pirates. They had few ships due to the expense but it was worth it.

The final was the Air platform. This one was mostly used for helicopters but they did have plans for jet aircraft but it was in the planning stages at the moment. Other then that they were mostly support aircraft to be used by the ground and naval forces. There was a larger platform next to it, this one was simply called the 'Garage'. It was the primary housing unit for all of the ground vehicles that Diamond dogs use. It was the largest of all of the platforms due to the amount of vehicles they had which ranged from simple jeeps to tanks, walker gears and battle gears. Being this close to the air platform allowed Diamond dogs to move rapidly.

Sighing he looked to the sea again before walking down the stairs to the main floor. As he did D-dog came up to him and he stroked the wolf's head. Huey had said that DD was a wolf, but that didn't matter at all, not to him or his men. But genetically dogs and wolfs were close, so calling DD a dog wasn't accurate, but wasn't wrong either. Since D dog would not live forever, it was suggested that with the other wolfs they had they should breed them and make them apart of Diamond dogs.

This idea was accepted across the bases and soon a breeding program began and the PMC had a wolf unit that was used mostly by the Security and Combat teams. The training the wolfs had made them effective scouts and attack dogs. They were apart of Diamond dogs now.

He walked along to one of the doors and opened it walking into the base itself. He headed to his own room and walked into it. DD climbed onto the bed and looked at Big boss as he sat down at his desk and went over the latest reports from the medical team. One of the things he ordered was for the to find a way to remove or destroy the vocal cord parasites from their bodies. That why there would never be a similar incident like at the quarantine facility. Reading the reports he sighed, no success once again.

They where working on the idea that they could create a bacteria that would be able to attack the parasites and wolbachia. That way they would be able to have children once again. This was motivated by the fact that some of the staff where married to each other and wanted to bring children into this world. It wasn't his right to deny them, Kaz didn't want to but he also didn't have a right to deny them either. He sighed and stroked his hair stubble as he set the files down onto the table.

"Shit, shit." he muttered.

DD wined at him getting his attention. "Ha sorry boy, just annoyed." he said knowing full well that DD wouldn't talk.

He reach for one of his draws pulling it open and taking out an olive green can with the Diamond Dogs logo on it. Opening the cap he then took a quick swig before reading the rest of the reports.

"More depressing shit." he said before picking up the next one, this one being from the intel team.

As he read Kaz walked into the room.

"Boss, we still haven't found Quiet. But we're still looking." he said.

"I can tell." the Boss said waving the intel report before setting it down.

"Yeah well, next time kill her." Kaz said before walking.

"Yeah, but your not the boss here." Kosaryov said as he stood and turned to DD. "Care for a walk boy?"

DD just barked making the Boss smile as he picked up his radio.

"Pequad, meed me on the main command helipad. I'm taking DD for a walk." he said.

"Will do sir." Pequad said.

"Come on DD."

OOOOO

The helicopter ride to Afghanistan was mercifully short and Pequad landed the craft on the ground. He, Boss and DD sat on the edge of the helicopter as they ate enjoying the scene. Pequad, also known as Allen Jackson sat eating a well done bacon sandwich. Boss however just cooked a rat pack which he enjoyed greatly.

"Long day right?" Pequad asked.

"Yeah, those reports." Boss said rubbing his head. "Ugh, some things are never done if ever." he looked out into the desolate wasteland and began to think. "All this because the old mother base had a nuke. Makes me think that we're better with a nation, a nation of our own. No allegiances to the east or west, but to our own. A nation of dogs, a military country all to itself."

Pequad looked at the boss then out at the wasteland. "I agree, having a nation will be easier then this. While the main objective of boss was to make a group without a nation that's easier said then done. With a nation of our own with no alliances we can get away with a lot more and get a lot more support for things. But then again, we cannot get away with others that's why we're a PMC."

"Indeed, boss wanted to create his own nation. A nation of our own… that would help us."

The two then fell silent as they ate but then the radio came on.

"Big boss?" said a male member of the intel crew.

Kosaryov smiled and pulled up is Idroid. "Speaking."

"Sir we found something, you may want to see this for yourself."

Pequad looked at him and Kosaryov looked back at the pilot.

"Ok we'll be back soon."

OOOOO

Boss looked at the map of the intimidate area. A red pin was placed on an island which they did not detect before. One of the missions that he sent some people on came back with the sighting of this island, while Mother base was good the problem was maintenance. They needed ships and other specialised equipment in order to repair the base itself. This was costly, while it was a good resupply base and a command base but as a place to live and build, not so much. This island maybe a good to settle and command operations from here.

"Sir." one of the Intel soldiers said making Snake turn to him. "The island, it's uncharted." he said.

"Uncharted? Well then let's lay claim to it. Get someone on the horn to whoever does these things, send a team to the island. Have it mapped and see if there any inhabitance."

"Will do sir."

OOOOO

Four Blackfoot helicopters with two Chinook heavy transport aircraft flew towards the uncharted island. Soon enough the blackfoots landed and offloaded the soldiers onto the island. Dressed in woodland camouflage and armed with the soviet standard rifle they spread out from their landing craft the lead then called out.

"Clear!" she yelled.

As soon as she called that the Chinook then dropped their load onto an opening. The load consisted of four containers of lab and monitoring equipment with two woodland camo ZaAZ-S84/4W jeeps onto an open area.

"Ok people let's set up base camp." the lead ordered.

"Sir yes sir." everyone said.

As they began to set up the lead looked around. She was part of a special forces unit of Diamond dogs codename Butterfly hounds. An all female combat group given a similar parasite treatment like the sniper Quiet, but unlike quiet who was a sniper these women were mixed combat specialists making them an effective group. They could be identified by the little amount of clothing they wore and a tattoo on their arm in the from of a butterfly. Their leader, Flaming Sword, also known as Widow Snake happened to be one of the few apprentices that Boss had taken under his wing to be trained as his replacements for when he died.

She looked around the area as the others began to set up tents. All she did was take it all in, she had been in forests and tropical area's before but almost always in combat. But she doubted this place was populated. One of the blackfoots took off and began to fly around the island as the others set up their equipment.

It took around 40 min to get all the tents and equipment up allowing the research teams to look around and get samples. As soon as that happened the helicopter chimed in.

"Flaming sword, Jackknife here we have detected at least four other islands similar in size to this one. They are also close by."

"Copy, let's stick with this one first did you detect any human life?"

"Negative this island is uninhabited by human life."

"Ok, come back and set down."

"Wilco." one of the pilots said as the aircraft set down.

Their blades shut down and the pilots exited to help out. This was going to be tricky.

OOOOO

Snake looked over a Russian base as he looked the area. They were short on a few supplies for an experimental VTOL helicopter and this base was always good for a few supplies but the problem was that they increased their troop numbers to prevent it from happening again. But to him that just meant more recruits for mother base. But as he looked though the scope all he could think about was Quiet. The sniper who fell for him, and he fell for her, but she had never seen his 'true' face only the face of the Boss. Would she still love him then? If she saw the real 'Boss'? He didn't know, but he was not sure if he had the 'right' to know given that he essentially lied to her.

But even if she didn't love him after she saw his face he and Diamond dogs still had to bring her in. The English strain of the parasites were still inside her and they could not be allowed to be out for long. Most if not all of the intel team were dedicated to finding Quiet not just out of loyalty to the 'Boss' but because over time the members of Diamond dogs saw her as one of their own even if she worked for Cypher. This was the reason why the Butterfly hounds were created. Quiet inspired them to be an elite team, and they knew it. Despite what miller said, to them she was and still is a Diamond dog.

He sighed as he looked down the sights trying to free his thoughts. However a moment later Ocelot came on.

"Snake, the intel team just found her." he said over the radio.

Faster then seemed possible Snake tapped his ear bud.

"What? Where?" he asked.

"She's being held by and unknown group. We have no idea who they are. But that's not the worst part, it seems that she's dying. I sent the location to your Idroid. Get her back boss."

Snake stood and took out the holographic device. The map appeared giving him her location, it was time to bring the butterfly back home. He turned to a jeep behind him and climbed on. D dog followed jumping into the passenger seat before driving off. He drove so fast that he ran a truck off the road and into a ditch. This was one mission that couldn't wait.

OOOOO

Cold, that's all she felt since they began to fight each other. Just cold, her body betrayed her and she didn't know what to do but her body refused to respond to her. The sounds of Arabic sounded outside, she didn't understand what they said but what did she care. She was going to die anyway, why did she have to care about living? All she did was kill, that was the only thing was natural to her. Kill or be killed, that was the main rule on the battlefield the only true constant on the battlefield.

Looking at her hand, her skin was becoming a blueish grey due to the war inside her body. The parasites that were keeping her alive, and the vocal cord parasites that were trying to use her as a nest. What did it matter if people killed her? She's dead anyway, as far as she was concerned this would be better then letting the world know about the creatures inside of her. Two men then came in and grabbed her by the arms and took her outside. She still felt cold despite the sun on her skin, even the hot sand felt cold to her.

He head was placed onto a flat rock and someone raised a sword. Beheading, likely sending a message to the Soviets to back off otherwise they would do the same to them. They thought she was one of them, amusing to say the least. But what did she care? She waited for the end, but it never came. Moving was a bit of a pain but she looked up to see the executioner fall to the ground panicking the others who fell one by one. There was a sniper in the area but the alarm wasn't raised, and there was no noise. She looked around slowly before noticing something move in the distance toward her.

A man in tiger camouflage came moving up, the uniform… that uniform Diamond Dogs. He looked young, but experienced. But there was something familiar about him. He spoke but she didn't understand what he said, but he picked her up like she was a bride and called someone. Soon a helicopter came it… there was no way it could be. It was Pequad, it landed and the pilot hopped out. It was Pequad and he helped her onto the helicopter before he moved into the cockpit.

"Boss is she.. is she ok?" Pequad asked.

'Boss?' Quiet asked herself as she looked at the man. 'No… your not the boss.' she thought before her mind forced her to sleep.

OOOOO

As the helicopter landed Snake saw several of his men look at each other all of them armed. A line of them stood in front of the helipad with a few of the female soldiers with Ocelot standing in front of them while in front of him stood Miller and some men in balaclavas.

"Get outta my way!" Miller ordered but Ocelot stood firm.

"No." he said as the helicopter landed.

Snake looked to Pequad who came from the pilot seat and crouched next to him.

"I'll keep an eye on her." the pilot said pulling out his pistol and cocking it.

Snake nodded and pulled the door open and hopped out.

"What's going on here?" he yelled getting attention from the soldiers.

The ones behind Ocelot turned and saluted before moving out of the way to allow Snake to step forward.

"Boss." Ocelot and Miller said at the same time.

"Miller wants to kill Quiet." the gunslinger said.

"Is that so?" Snake asked starring daggers at Miller.

"She has to be killed." Miller started. "She has to die she still has the English strain. Killing her will kill them, it will stop this outbreak one and for all. Not to mention she's XOF! She cannot be trusted."

Snake fell silent and looked around to see a number of soldiers around. "You." he pointed to one of the soldiers off to the side. "Which group did you come from?"

"XOF sir, you extracted me from OKB Zero. I have to be thankful though because I wanted out." the soldier said.

Snake nodded then looked to another. "You same question."

"XOF sir."

Snake then looked to Miller. "Two people from XOF, Cypher's combat group. I extracted at least 20 of them at OKB Zero and yet your not saying anything about them why?"

"They gained our trust, they are Diamond dogs like us! They felt the pain of losing people, they felt lost from XOF. But her, she killed out men! She has the vocal cord parasites inside her! The English strain! We have to kill her in to save everyone! She's even more of a danger then anyone here, she can kill us without us even knowing! She has to die!"

"The same can be made for anyone here Miller, we're soldiers born for the battlefield we've all faced pain, loss, betrayal. Me and you more then most, but this… this is getting out of hand Miller. I have taken Quiet out more times then I care to count, I have also lost count on how many times she has saved me. And that's not mentioning how many chances, how many times she's had the chance to kill me, or you or any of us yet she never did so. You just cannot accept that she, is better then all of us combined, she no longer Cypher, no longer XOF. She's a Diamond Dog like the rest of us and I will not let you kill her."

The balaclavaed soldiers looked to each other then lowered their weapons and stood at attention.

"What are you…." Miller tried to say but Snake stepped forward.

"Miller, you never got over the loss of your men. That's your problem, afterwards you saw traitors everywhere even in those you thought to be your friends all because you lost your own men. it's time to honour their memory and let them go."

Miller looked to the side and was about to say something but one of the intel team came up and yelled.

"EVERYONE GET INSIDE NOW!" she yelled out in clear panic. "THE US AND RUSSIA, THEY'RE GOING AT IT. IT'S BEGUN, THE NUCLEAR WAR HAS BEGUN!"

"SOUND THE ALARM! GET EVERYONE INSIDE! ALERT ALL FOB'S, ENGAGE ANTI- MISSILE DEFENCES!" Snake yelled as he moved over and grabbed Quiet in his arms while Diamond Dogs moved as fast as they could.

The attack alarm sounded and someone spoke over the speakers. "All units please report inside intimately! All Civilians please make your way to the bunkers immediately, this is not a drill! I repeat this is not a drill!"

The security team began to move as fast as they can to keep people calm and get them inside as fast as they could. In case of an attack there was underwater bunkers under each of the platforms in case this might happen. Not for the nuclear war but a missile attack on Mother base and FOB's. They could replace the platforms but not the people. People could not be replaced so easily. The Security team managed to get everyone into the bunkers before going in themselves. Now was the waiting began.

Boss looked at the satellites cams to see what was happening.

"The first wave should hit now." one of the intel team said making eyes look to the screen as the first of the nukes hit.

New york, Boston, London, Paris, Washington, Moscow, Berlin and countless other cities all gone in a blink of an eye. This was the end of the world that they were watching and all of them knew it. But there was one question that people knew but didn't want to ask… what was going to happen next?

Boss walked out of the room and made his was to the Medial bunker which had facility to deal with people on a small scale but Quiet and her condition was anything but normal. Making it to the room he looked in to see Quiet on a bed with 5 of the medical team and Code talker taking a look at her. He watched as they moved around the sniper trying to see if she could be saved. As this happened Ocelot came up and stood next to the boss.

"Boss... no Kosaryov we have not detected any more nukes launching. The east and west have gone, we cannot pick up any sign of any radio signals except from the odd ship wondering about what's going on." Ocelot said.

Kosaryov nodded and looked down. "How long until Moscow is clear of radiation?"

"At least 50 years."

"Ge the R&D team working on radiation gear. I want to know what happened." he said before looking down then at the gunslinger. "You know what I'm thinking."

Ocelot nodded. "Yes, a clean slate that's the only explanation I can think of."

"Same, and the only one that makes any sense. But why? There must have been other ways to get his objective this… this just seems a little too extreme."

"Agreed. I'll order the intel team to keep an eye on radiation levels outside." he turned to leave but Boss stopped him.

"Ocelot, Miller… take him to Doctor Tanaka. Get him looked at, he's relived of duty until we know he's ok."

"Will do boss."


	2. Chapter 2

She slipped in and out of consciousness all she could see was doctors working on her. They were dressed in Diamond dogs uniforms, she was back at Mother base despite her attempt to leave. The people that worked on her were the ones who she knew well as they worked on her in the past. Code Talker was there as well informing them on the progression of her dying body. But all the time she noticed that young man in the window watching over her, she didn't know him but that lingering familiar feeling was always there. He stood just like the boss, had the arm just like the boss and petted D-Dog just like the boss. But there was no way it could be him, it just couldn't.

But there was an air about him, something that troubled her. It was as if something happened that she didn't know about but her mind didn't allow her to think. It was too painful to think making her to slip back into unconsciousness. But soon she awoke feeling better however her body still refused to listen to her, her mind and eyes still listened to her.

"Hey you ok?" A voice then asked.

She turned to see the young man sitting next to her holding her hand in his robotic one. The movement satisfied him and he smiled.

"This may seem odd to you but there's a lot to tell you. I'm Venom Snake, I'm the Boss who you worked with."

With that Quiet's mind buzzed with activity, but she didn't have time to think as he spoke again.

"But that's not the main reason I'm here, the world we both knew is gone, Russia and America went at it with nukes. Most of the world is gone, we're trying to find out what happened but we cannot until R&D develop something for the radiation. But they say that our area is safe for now, but your staying here until it gets better up there. Remember the outbreak on the Quarantine platform? We're avoiding a similar situation. We'll make you better I swear." he said before leaning in and kissing her on the cheek before walking.

If she could blush she'd be the deepest shade of red there was.

OOOOO

Despite the attack Diamond dogs still worked as nothing happened but there was still the air about that felt like something happened. Eyes told all, they were windows to the soul after all. Each one knew what they had to do, and they had to do it quick if they were to find out what happened to the world. The R&D team was working tirelessly to make the anti radiation equipment the Boss needed. They communicated with the other FOB's and had the genuineness come to the main Mother base so that their minds could pick each other apart to find out a good way to resist radiation.

Lead plating would be the best, but it was heavy and they needed some kind of cloth for the under part of the armour. A challenge any engineer would take to with ease and they did. Like it or not they were still Diamond dogs, a family and one that deserved to live. Other then their Jobs no one talked about what had happened but they all knew what had happened. Some of them took some time to get their priorities in order and either cried or prayed whatever they could to settle their feelings.

Given what had happened the rules were relaxed for a few weeks to allow for people to do what they needed to do before getting back to work. Miller being removed from command was not much of a surprise. He wasn't in his right mind and taking him off duty was the best idea. The boss was the boss in their mind and his word was law.

In the main support platform command room one of the soldiers was working overtime about the resources they had. The moon was high in the sky as she worked on the maths of the whole thing, how many people their were, the space, the food, water. Looking at the results she sighed and removed her glasses. Mei wasn't used to this work but she knew it had to be done. There was not enough resources to go around on Mother base and the FOB's. Even with a farming platform there wasn't enough room.

As much as she hated to say it but there was just no way they could survive on the bases. Placing them back on she looked at the results again to see if there was a way to get out of this mess. But soon she fell asleep on the table. Early in the morning the commander of the platform entered the room to find Mei on the table sleeping. He walked up to her and shook her shoulder waking her from her deep sleep.

"A, shénme? Jǐ diǎnle?" she said startled.

"Mei you ok?" the commander asked making the young Chinese woman look to him.

"Oh sir, yes I'm 'yawn' fine. Just a little tired," she said as she stood and took up all of the papers she had wrote. "Where's the Boss and commander Ocelot?"

"Command platform, they're talking about operations into Moscow and Washington,"

"Ok thanks," she said before leaving.

OOOOO

The beefing room was filled with the higher ups of Diamond dogs to hear about what was happening. So far they were just talking about planning operations into the two capitols of the east and west. But the problem was that they were bombed the hardest and had the highest radiation levels then anywhere else in the world. Reading about this the boss just sighed and placed it down on the table.

"Is there a way round this?" he asked.

Sin Na-Rae the head of R&D shook her head. "Not much I'm afraid, we still need time to make the materials we need for the radiation suits. We need even more time to make the suits themselves. Without the industry outside to aid us it's going to be difficult if not impossible to get what we need." she said.

"That's unfortunate," Ocelot said. "But not unexpected."

At that moment there was a knock on the door. "Come in, this is an open briefing," Kosaryov said and Mei entered with a salute.

"Sargent Mei-Ling Zhou R&D division," she said before relaxing. "I'm sorry to intrude but we have a problem, I did the numbers and we don't have enough resources to keep everyone on the bases," she said as she handed the nearest commander her papers.

It went around them all each of them reading carefully before it landed in the Bosses hands. After read he placed it down and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Any ideas? Anyone?" he asked.

No one said anything as the news was just bad even with what they were talking about. He shook his head and he just looked down at the papers in front of him. He moved the papers around before noticing the files about the island chain he had sent people to. Looking up after the long pause he spoke.

"What about the islands?" he asked. "What has been found about them?"

The others began to look thought their papers for the intel officer found it.

"Here, testing is still going on but the main island but there seems to be other islands near it and testing has begun on them. But initial checks seem to point that the soil is fertile, animals are on the island among other things." he said.

"Is it possible to move the refugees there?" the boss asked but the intel officer just shrugged.

"Not sure, these are just initial reports. After the bombs fell the ones on the islands took some time off to gather their thoughts before continuing. So what we have is little."

"Given the situation I'm not that surprised." Boss said before turning to Mei. "Mei, since you found this for us, I'm ordering you to find a solution."

"Sir." Mei saluted before turning and walking out.

OOOOO

On the combat platform several people from a cargo freighter where brought on brought and were being served food and drink. After the bombs dropped plenty of people where coming to the bases and being helped out. Due to extensive measures the ships were investigated and a few where found to be smugglers, but only a few were placed into the brig while others where going to have an eye on them.

The medical bay had a few people who were being trafficked to other places as slaves or prostitutes and the smugglers for that were thrown into the big. But for stuff like drugs and food they where for the most part ignored as the drugs were sent to RnD and the medical platforms for research. People were worried and confused about what had happened but Diamond dogs told them as such as they knew but that didn't help matters. Questions, there was always questions and they answered what they could but they just like the people they were helping didn't know.

The fact that no one knew terrified them as much as anyone. In return for their help Diamond dogs did inventory to see what they could use from the ships and took it as payment as an agreement. A few of the Captains of the ships however were in a briefing room with the lieutenant of the combat platform.

"So you all want to help, but not be part of Diamond dogs right?" she asked.

"Yeah." said a man with a clear South African accent. "Given what's happened I think it would be the best idea. I mean we don't mind following your chain of command and everything but we just don't want to be apart of your organisation."

"Understandable, and these are exceptional circumstances. I need to send this to the Boss, as long as you keep out of combat I think he'll agree." she said.

OOOOO 2 weeks latter.

Code talker was in his lab looking over the new species of plants trying to find out their properties. For the most part they looked like common flowers across the world but were subtly different when compared to the others. Several of his assistants were also looking at them. These plants were fascination and their structure seemed familiar to him, but what he could not place it. But the medicinal probities of it, the possibilities of it. The botanists took their time with the experiments so as not to make any mistakes or get too excited.

The situation they were already is was no laughing matter. This time, time was on their side if it some things were a little urgent. Music was being played over the speaks to boost the morale of the men but in light of the situation it didn't boost morale by much. Code talker was old enough to know this and he wanted to help but he didn't know how to. The best he could offer was a big buffet feast but that would eat up most of their food resources. At this point they could not afford that. As he examined a rose like flower the boss entered into the lab.

"Code talker." he said getting to old native American's attention.

"Ahhh boss, welcome. I suppose that you are here to see our progress." he said.

"Indeed I am, as much as I would like to get operations back up there are some things that we need to sort out first. RnD is still working on the radiation suits but it's going to take some time. Even the Captains of the ships who have arrived are interested in helping. I've had good and bad news today, and I still cannot sleep."

Code talker just smiled. "So you seek the opinion of an old man."

"Kinda, like I said here for an update. Good news if you please."

"Something that I do not believe I can give. We are still weeks away from a proper report, these plants, they're unique. They are something I have never seen before, what they may possess… I cannot fathom."

"Well as long…." the Boss started to say but one of the lab assistants spoke.

"Tha…that cannot be right." she said as she moved away to look at her notes.

"Is there a problem Amanda?" Code talker asked as he moved up next to her.

"Yeah, take a look at this." she said moving to one side allowing for Code talker to stand with help from the Boss and Amanda.

He took a look down the microscope before looking at his assistants notes then looked at his assistant.

"This… this is impossible." he said.

"What?" the Boss asked.

"We may have just found a true cure for the vocal cord parasites."


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the short length but I just didn't know how to continue it after I left off.**

Venom Snake looked out of the window, or as much as his armoured Rad suit would allow. Pequad was taking to Moscow Russia to find out what had happened to the world. He wasn't expecting anything but even in war expecting the unexpected was what soldiers did. He would be alone for this mission as D-dog had no rad protection the same with D-horse but the area was likely going to be little more then rubble so that ruled out D walker until a few upgrades could be made.

The SGV 76 rifle in his hands was cocked and ready for action. While he used just about every weapon known to the militaries of the world he did have his preferences. Back before any of this happened he used this weapon whenever he was up against the soviets, that way he wouldn't need too much support from the Support team. This time, until modifications could be added to the support craft he needed it more then ever.

Pequad soon landed and Venom exited the helo looking around with his weapon up.

"Clear, ok Pequad get back to the ship. Stand by for my call." he said.

"Yes sir." Pequad said before talking off.

Snake looked around, Moscow was gone. The once bustling city of the Soviet union was now dead and gone, lost to the pages of time. The quiet of the city was unnerving as he walked. As he did he could imagine the parades that took place, before he joined the bass he took part in those parades celebrating the soviet union and communism but no more now. He sighed as he moved down the street as memories began to come back.

OOOOO

Alpha squad was made up of at least 5 people, one team leader, one marksmen, one gunner, one grenadier and one radiologist. This formation was used with all other groups that were sent into the wastelands but some of them had STOUT IFV-SC that had been radiation hardened. But they were not so lucky, their objective was the Pentagon and a small group would be required to get in and out fast. Each of them were American and from Washington, that's why they were chosen for the mission. Because they knew the city like the back of their hands.

Each of them where also armed with an American m16 colt, this was mostly due to the fact that if they ran out, ammo would not be hard to find. This was something that the Boss essentially ordered for all of the mother base soldiers and it helped out more then once. The group approached the US military building and walked in. They didn't have their weapons up as they saw no need to, the place was dead they were only carrying them for emergencies.

They split up and two of them went to missile command while the other three went to the main server room. Amata 'Blue Hawk' Almodovar was the missile expert as well as the team leader. She lead her life long friend Sarah 'Steel Lion' Lyons walked into missile command and looked around. The sight of bones fused with clothing nearly made the two sick but they kept their lunch in and moved to the consoles.

"So what are we looking for?" Sarah asked.

"Anything to show who authorised the nukes. If command is to be believed then the boss is somehow behind this." Amata said. "We need to find out who did this." she muttered as the two looked from computer to computer trying to see which ones were working.

While Snake and Ocelot had talked in private about the possibility that this was all the Boss' doing the thought did not escape the other members of Diamond dogs. Because rumour was so hard to fight the Snake just let it go. There was little point in trying to stop word from getting around a fact he learned in the Soviet army despite it's authoritarian style. People talked regardless of rank or culture and unless it was about rebellion it was best left alone.

After a good few moments they found a working terminal. Amata tuned it on and began to read though it. It was corrupted for the most part, but that was understandable but some of it was readable, but it was still making no sense. Taking out her Idroid she took a cable and plugged it in. the device activated and downloaded what there was. It only took a few seconds until it was done.

"Command, Star one, got a working terminal here sending what I have." she said as she pulled the plug and pressed send.

"Star one, copy we have the files. Most seem to be corrupted can you confirm?" the Intel officer said on the other end.

"Yes I can confirm but this is all I could find."

"Understood." the officer said before a loud bang made the two get down. "Star one what was that?"

"Requesting radio silence." Amata whispered.

Sarah walked up to a window and looked out of it. Something moved in the streets, setting up her rifle she looked down the scope at the movement while switching from auto to single. It moved again and what she saw disgusted her, a human was walking around with skin falling off and clothing fused to their skin. Aiming for the head she then fired, the round hit the person in the head who fell down dead. That turned out to be a big mistake as several more people came over to the body all with the same skin falling off their bodies.

"Shit." she muttered turning to her friend. "We got more of them now."

"Damn it," Amata said as she hit her radio. "Star one to Blackjack, need pickup on the roof of the pentagon."

"Blackjack here on the way."

"Squad meet up on the roof, be warned about unknown hostiles."

OOOOO

The ride back to the cargo freighter, Lucy's call, was thankfully short but the decontamination was long and pissed both the team and crew off. But in the end it was worth it as they managed to get intel about what happened and the unknown hostiles they faced in Washington.

"Unfortunately we couldn't get one of their bodies to look at." Amata said as she stood in front of the Diamond dogs overseer. "But hopefully the intel we got from the terminal and server farm helped.

The look on the overseers face said otherwise. "As much as I hate to say it but both reviled little intel about what happened but we did find this." he pushed a report to her, she picked it up and read.

"The terminal Star one found was corrupted by a high margin due to the initial blast. Most of the information retrieved was unreadable except for a few records. One was of particular interest as it showed the launch time of the missiles. Launch time was 1329 est." she looked to the overseer. "Forgive me sir but we knew about this part."

"Indeed we did but Venom Snake found something similar at Moscow. The time of the launch was 2029, if we remove the seven hour difference both launches happened at the same time."

Her eyes widened. "But that means that someone from the US and Moscow launched the nukes at the same time."

"Exactly and from the pieces we could find, the US and Moscow didn't even know about it. Whoever did this, it wasn't on orders from either the US or USSR."

OOOOO

Quiet could only watch as people walked in and out of her room coming to check on her. At least she wasn't dead yet, she had so many Questions to ask. One of them being who was that young man claiming to be the boss. She had plenty of time to think lying in bed, at least she wasn't alone. The young man walked in and sat next to her before taking a hold of her hand. Now she got a good look at him. He was around her age, and wasn't that unattractive. He did however have a scar running down his left eye which itself was a milky white. Other then that there was few defining features about him. Little to no hair and fairly tanned skin.

"Hey," he spoke with a softness to his voice. "I heard form the doctors that you'll be up and out soon, I could use you back in the field. We have got some serious problems and we need all the hands we can get. But I wanted to tell you this personally but I didn't have time ans we didn't know if it could work. Code talker managed to find something that targets the Vocal cord parasite's DNA at it's most basic level and well eats it. It works, we've tried it on a few of the staff and they no longer have the parasite or the Wolbachia in them any more."

Quiet tried to reach over to him and touch his face but her strength had not returned. He held her down with a soft smile on his face.

"Don't worry we're going to give everyone infected with the treatment. That includes you." he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek again before leaving.

This shade of red her face wanted to produce would have melted anything. She was glad to be back.


	4. Chapter 4

The commanders of the various groups of Diamond dogs sat around the main briefing table to hear about the latest news. The fact that both sides had launched at the same time was troubling to say the least. But the bombshell about Ocelot's and the Boss' idea about why Big Boss did this hit harder than a nuke. It made sense, and that was the problem. It made sense. The faces of the different commanders told the story without saying anything.

A clean slate, the term just spoke more than it needed to. For the Boss to create his own military nation, his own country, a clean slate was needed to ensure that the nation had no baggage to create one. Venom snake stroked his growing stubble his mind wondering, they had idea's about why Big boss did this but no solid leads. For all he knew Cypher could have set the nukes off, but given their MO, it was unlikely. Another group perhaps? One who was bent on sending humanity back to the starting point? Idea's filled his mind but each one had as much proof as the last.

"Why don't things make any sense?" he asked out loud making eyes turn to him. "Sorry, just thinking out loud."

"It's ok sir, I think we all feel the same way." One of the commanders said. "This saturation…"

A grim number of nods came from the others around the table before the Boss spoke again. "Well moping will get us nowhere fast, we need to figure out what's going on here. We need new weapons and gear to survive in this world now. Any idea's anyone?"

The R&D commander immediately took the floor. "Well, given research into cybernetics we could produce something that allows our soldiers to carry more stuff into the battlefield. Given the situation it may be useful. The term is called powered armour, I believe."

"Sounds expensive, try prototyping it. If it doesn't work break it down into its base form." The boss said with the commander nodding.

"We're going to need some kind personal defence weapons. While assault rifles are good, they are not compact enough. We need something that is useful for close quarters combat and urban warfare." Said the security commander.

The boss looked towards Ocelot with a raised brow. "Come up with designs and send them to R&D." Ocelot said turning to the commander who nodded in response.

"Is there anything else?" The boss asked and no one said anything. "Very well, briefing adjourned."

OOOOO

The cold sea air nipped at the back of his head as the Punished Venom moved walked long one of the walkways to a different part of mother base with DD. It allowed him to clear his head, and take DD for one of his daily walks. The wolf had grown much since the boss found him, both as a skilled combat dog and a friend. Reports of DD helping with others on the Refugee platform and the farming platform were well known. Even if he could not talk he helped as much as he could as well.

It was amusing to say the least. As the two walked his radio turned on.

"Boss, Dr Chackwas is requesting your presence on the medical platform." Ocelot said over the radio.

"Understood, on the way." He said before turning and walking.

OOOOO

Dr Kar Chackwas was old, but a brilliant mind in the field of biology and medical practice. She kept up to date on everything there was to learn about the subject. The best field medic in the world. But due to her age she was now head of Diamond dogs medical and was ready to treat any wound, but right now she was focused on something else. A group had brought a dead body with the flesh slowly coming off it. They wanted to know why it was still moving.

The boss walked in while she was doing an examination and looked though one of the quarantine windows.

"Dr, you called for me." He said.

Not looking up she continued to dissect the corpse. "Yes, we have had reports of these things attack our men. From what I have seen these used to be people who have been cooked in radiation."

"So, radiation zombies?" he asked and the Dr nodded.

"From what I can tell." She looked up, her face hidden behind a hazmat hood. "This may become a problem."

OOOOO

Diamond dogs 4th armoured moved along a dirt road leading towards Berlin. According to the satellites the place wasn't hit hard, so they could try and find something there. 4th had around 50 troops split up into 5 armoured fighting vehicles and two tanks. While they didn't expect anything, the satellites did detect some movement. Could be Americans, could be Russians they didn't know. But one thing was for sure, the radiation around the city was almost minimal.

For some reason the nuke that was meant to hit Berlin either didn't detonate, or had a weak uranium warhead. Because of this, 4th went to check it out. Most of them were either positioned in Germany at one point or came from the city. This would allow them to move quickly and find what they need.

The ride was slow going to say the least, but they had plenty of supplies. A farm was up ahead, a good place to rest for the time being. Hazmat infantry were the first to move up and check around both the house and barn. Aside from some dead cows, there was little of interest. Captain Roy 'Fire dog' Mustang got out of his tank and looked around. He entered the house and looked around, people used to live here. No more now, he was about to say something when one of his men walked up to him.

"Sir, we just found three bodies in the basement." He said before leading Roy into the basement.

There laying down dead where three people, two adults and one child. Their skin nearly god from their bodies and major bleeding. At the very least, they looked peaceful. The sight of them nearly made him gag but he held it down.

Mustang turned to one of his mean. "Get some shovels and burry them. It's the least we can do."

The soldier said nothing just nodded. Two soldiers left while the other two began to take the bodies outside. Roy left and walked over to his tank, they all needed some rest. Resting on the tank he watched as others joined in digging the graves. Once dug they then wrapped the bodies in sheets and lay them in the ground. A few of them began to sing along with some of them praying while two men berried them.

Each one then thanked them for the use of their house, and would leave it in the same way they found it. Even then, the dead deserved to be treated with respect.

24 hours later the convoy was moving along the road again. The city was in sight and two soldiers experienced in riding motorbikes drove in. The farm had two motorbikes which the soldiers used to get into the city faster for some recon. Riza 'Hawkeye' Yama and Jean 'Havok' Jones drove through the streets keeping a look out.

"Damn, I think I'm going into withdraw." Jean said as his mind began to demand him to smoke.

"You do know they'll kill you?" Riza shot.

"So, what?" Jean asked rhetorically. "The whole world has gone to hell what do you expect?"

Riza said nothing but stopped her bike, Jean did the same. "Something wrong?"

She said nothing as she jumped off her bike and tackled Jean off his bike. Her bike suddenly exploded and the two dived into the window of a shop. A Russian tank rolled along and someone jumped out. Whoever it was, they were dressed in a black almost skin-tight outfit and a bullpup rifle in hand. The two readied their weapons in case of an attack. But whoever it was got back in the tank and drove off. As the tank drove out of sight Riza grabbed her geiger counter and checked it. Zero radiation.

She took off her suit making Jean look at her. Holding up the counter he nodded and did the same. While he suits were made to defend against the radiation, they were cumbersome and not good for moving in city streets. The two made their way up to the roof and moved along the rooftops. Riza being a sniper was used to this while Jean being a weapons expert not so much. The two of them the found the tank that attacked, to their shock it was only one of 5 tanks of unknown make. They needed to radio this in.


End file.
